n]
| 1. | something serving to represent or indicate some fact, event, feeling, etc.; sign: Black is a token of mourning. |
| 2. | a characteristic indication or mark of something; evidence or proof: Malnutrition is a token of poverty. |
| 3. | a memento; souvenir; keepsake: The seashell was a token of their trip. |
| 4. | something used to indicate authenticity, authority, etc.; emblem; badge: Judicial robes are a token of office. |
| 5. | Also called token coin. a stamped piece of metal, issued as a limited medium of exchange, as for bus fares, at a nominal value much greater than its commodity value. |
| 6. | anything of only nominal value similarly used, as paper currency. |
| 7. | an item, idea, person, etc., representing a group; a part as representing the whole; sample; indication. |
| 8. | Logic, Linguistics. a particular instance of a word, symbol, expression, sentence, or the like: A printed page might have twenty tokens of the single type-word “and.” Compare type (def. 8). |
| 9. | to be a token of; signify; symbolize. |
| 10. | serving as a token: a token gift; a token male on an all-female staff. |
| 11. | slight; perfunctory; minimal: token resistance. |
| 12. | by the same token,
|
| 13. | in token of, as a sign of; in evidence of: a ring in token of his love. |
to·ken (tō'kən) n.
To betoken or symbolize; portend. adj.
[Middle English, from Old English tācen; see deik- in Indo-European roots.] |
by the same token
In the same way, for the same reason. For example, He has a good ear for music, and by the same token he finds it easy to pronounce foreign words. This phrase today is used in a general way to connect statements that have some logical association with one another. [Mid-1400s]
As a corroborating circumstance, as in Boston's population has grown very fast, and by the same token its urban problems have also increased. [Late 1800s]